Posts Tagged “irritable hedgehog”

Dave Seidel is a New Hampshire-based composer and performer who works primarily in electronic music. The title, ~60 Hz, refers to the approximate frequency of the sine wave tones that begin two of the three works that comprise this CD. 60 Hz is also the frequency of our 110 Volt AC power outlets. and although the pieces created here use other frequencies and combinations, 60 Hz becomes a touchstone for the entire album.

That Dave has chosen to work with pure wave forms presents challenges to both the creator and the listener. Mixtures of sine waves obviously lack the variety of timbres we normally expect when standard acoustic instruments are played. Pure wave forms normally tend to have a very sterile sound, but various frequencies and mixtures can produce a more distinctive feel, especially when used in the artful combinations offered here. Certain ratios of sine wave frequencies can sound alien and metallic, or they can feel rich and warm. When two frequencies are quite close, zero beating occurs and this is another element that can be employed by the artist. I actually loaded the MP3 files of ~60 Hz into Audacity, a freeware sound editing program, in order to see the wave forms of each piece as I listened.

The first track is titled Permutation and opens with a pure 60 Hz hum to start. This tone is very pure, yet surprisingly deep and warm – unlike the 60 Hz buzzing that you often hear creeping into bad cables in a cheap sound system. A second wave is added directly onto the 60 Hz hum as the piece progresses, is layered by another, then a third at pleasing harmonic intervals. Eventually this settles out to two frequencies of about 400 and 300 Hz sounding together and riding on the 60 Hz base tone with the third tone of some 700 or 800 Hz joining in. This produces a clean sound, but not alien or unsettling. The overall effect is the pleasing throb of well-maintained machinery, humming confidently along. A slight variation in the loudness between the different wave forms and a changing of their frequencies slightly impart a sense of motion. More layering occurs as new tones enter and depart, with zero beating arising in a way that adds to the sense of forward movement. There is ultimately a return to the simple 60 Hz hum, and this fades away at the finish. This track has a pleasantly alien feel, not harsh despite the use of pure tones. Permutation is a warm wash with a bit of an edge, and sufficient variety to be engaging.

Accretion, the second track, also starts with a deep 60 Hz hum. Two low sine waves follow, with zero beating between. A third frequency is added, somewhat higher, producing a more metallic feel. This combination of zero beating at a low frequency and the addition of a steady higher tone produces a feeling of motoring forward. The higher tone now moves up in pitch, as if increasing in speed. The zero beating now increases in volume, almost overwhelming the higher tone and chopping into it. The use of zero beating here to shape the overall texture is nicely done. Now the beating tones become lower, a sense of down shifting. The higher tones become gradually softer while the lower beating tones predominate – as if something is passing out of sight. Finally there is just just a soft metallic hum that slowly fades away at the finish. There is a definite sense of journey in this piece, of going somewhere and arriving.

The final piece, Variation, begins with a 120 Hz steady hum to start. The volume now changes, increasing and then decreasing quickly to a brief silence, the sound rising and falling about twice a second or so. This period varies as does the maximum amplitude of the tone. There is a sort of broken, choppy feel to this, and these amplitude variations increase in tempo, introducing a beat that seems to have its own rhythm. Then the two sine waves waves start to zero beat – as well as oscillating in volume – adding more punch to the rhythmic line. The zero beating eventually smooths out around the12 minute mark, but continues to vary in amplitude, only not as quickly. This gives a sense of calming after the prior choppiness. The piece finishes with the original 120 Hz tone slowly decreasing in volume, then changing to a 60 Hz steady hum that gradually fades away. Variation is well named, given the varieties of volume modulation that this piece exhibits. The overall feeling is of watching some life form pulse and shimmer, as if attempting to communicate, then falling into stasis.

That such elementary sonic materials can be made to evoke such feelings is a real achievement. It is easy to produce irritating tones or 1950s science fiction sound effects, but ~60 Hz is a fine example of the artistry that can be inspired by the palette of the humble sine wave.

Ann Southam is one of those composers I wish I would have been introduced to sooner. Soundings was the first piece of hers that I have heard and the work brings forth such a delicious dichotomy that I have scoured available sources to find more of her music and hear how it is, and simultaneously is not, an example of commonly mentioned techniques. The two words that I have heard tossed about regarding Southam’s music are “serialism” and “postminimalism.” Soundings is easily both and yet also neither. Is there a twelve-tone process at work? In a sense. The austere opening arpeggio adds new tones as a means of development and Southam admits to working with the same row for several decades. Is this post-minimal? Why not? There is a rhythmic stubbornness but it seems to come from a sense of obsession with the sonority rather than some rigorous process. This is the same opening chord (and articulation) found in Southam’s Simple Lines of Enquiry, so obsession seems to be the right word. In contrast to Simple Lines, Soundings has a more urgent aura about it and a brighter, more vivacious piano sound in the recording.

Through the twelve short movements and one central interlude, this chord is played out in mostly monophonic and spacious gestures. The serial music you are taught to hate in college doesn’t ruminate, it lectures. This music, serial in the looses sense, is languid and floating. Deceptively simple arpeggios dissipate from the beginning to the interlude, where time seems to stop completely. Post interlude, thick and chunky chords appear and provide the firmament for the final five movements. Those meaty chords try to dissolve but rebuild themselves in the 11th movement and, once they have been worked out of the composer’s system, the whole composition unwinds and vanishes.

This EP release (Soundings is around 23 minutes) is another excellent vehicle for R. Andrew Lee to showcase a subtle virtuosity and sensitive musical touch. It is also one of the best sounding pianos I’ve heard on disc in quite some time. In the interest of full disclosure, I should say that I am close friends with David and Michelle McIntire, the Executive Producers of this album and masterminds of the Irritable Hedgehog label. You may subsequently dismiss this review as cronyism but I am positive those thoughts will evaporate once you’ve heard this disc or their An Hour for Piano recording (both available for free streaming on their website).